Ten Days at Federal Hill: Chapter Thirteen

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Chapter Thirteen: Losing Edward

The 1936 Ford pickup spewed blue smoke from a pipe stretching out behind it. A gray haze settled around the old horse barn and drifted into the pine trees nearest the door. The truck sat in the middle of the barn as it had for months, a fender, a bald tire, and oily tools lying in the dirt around it. Ben sat in the driver’s seat of the truck, his sore foot propped through the driver’s door window, and pressing the gas pedal with his good foot. Four bare, grimy legs protruded from under the front of the vehicle.

“Again!” someone shouted from under the truck. Ben revved the engine.

“Uh huh. Turn ‘er off and on one more time!” . Ben complied.

“Hey, Ben – hand me the wrench,” said Teddy’s voice.

“Make Sam get it. I can’t do everything! My foot’s killing me!”

“Sam’s holding the shaft,” Teddy replied. “You go get it.”

Ben grunted and grumbled, stumbled his way from the truck, and handed his brother the tool. “You need me to start ‘er up again?” he asked.

“No,” Teddy said. “In a few minutes maybe.” Clanks and bangs and muffled complaints rose from the engine area.

Ben leaned against the doorway of the old barn. His foot ached. His whole leg ached. He slid down and sat in the dirt, leaning against the wall. The August heat was intense, and the thick carpet of pine needles all around him was baking in the sun, sending a pleasant aroma into the still air. The morning was moving into afternoon. Soon the cicadas would drum rhythmically in the pine woods. He closed his eyes and lifted his face, allowing the brilliant sun to turn his eyelids a faint red. Ben loved the heat of summer. A fly landed on his forehead, and his eyes blinked open. He head his mother yell, and the screen door from the kitchen slammed. He looked at the back of the house and saw a movement at one of the attic windows.

“Who’s that?” he said.

“Who’s what?” Sam replied.

“Uh, upstairs, in the house. Somebody’s in the attic.”

“It’s one of the little kids,” Teddy said.

“Yeah,” Ben said mindlessly. “Maybe Abe. But too tall for Abe.” His mind felt fuzzy and sleepy from the sun. “Whatever.” His eyelids drifted down. His drowsy mind tried to focus on the boxwood garden across the pasture. Then he saw something move, something strange.

“What the heck!” he shouted, trying to jump to his feet. “Ouch! Dang, my foot!” Ben stood on his good foot, but his mind was focused on the garden. “What in the world was that thing?” Ben hobbled toward the front of the truck. “Something just ran across the backyard!”

“Like I said,” Teddy mumbled, “it’s one of the kids.”

“Or a skunk,” said Sam.

“Or a bear,” added Teddy. They both laughed.

“No, no,” Ben insisted. They often laughed at what he said. “I’m not joking! It wasn’t … it didn’t look human. I think.” He had difficulty explaining. “It was crawling, well running actually, on all fours. It was creepy! I don’t know what that thing was!”

Sam stuck his head out from under the truck. “Neighbor’s dog? Wild monkey from the circus?” He laughed again. “Creature from the black lagoon? Oooooooohooooh!”

“Shut up, you,” Ben said, and forgetting himself, kicked the truck tire with his bad foot.

“Ouch! Ahhh!” he wailed and crumpled to the barn floor clutching his wounded foot.

“Serves you right,” Sam snickered.

Teddy pounded on the fender. “Start ‘er up again, Ben. Maybe it’ll work this time.”

It did. The engine roared to life, and all three boys shouted and screamed with glee. Afraid it wouldn’t start a second time if they switched drivers, Ben had the good fortune of being behind the wheel as the three brothers squeezed into the cab, backed the rattling vehicle from the barn, and began a reckless race among the trees.

Teddy grabbed the dash. “Watch out for that stump!”

“I’m watching, I’m watching,” growled Ben. He swerved to miss a boxwood bush.

“And stick to the woods, okay?” Teddy ordered. “We don’t want Mom to see you driving.”

“I can drive!” Ben retorted.

“Yeah, yeah,” Teddy said. “But next time, it’s my turn.”

The truck rounded a huge clump of overgrown azaleas. Behind a stand of tall pine trees was the Clerk’s Office. As Ben veered away from it, Julia, Cecil, Carla, and Abe emerged through the kitchen door and saw the truck through the trees. Abe yelled and waved.

“Dang!” Sam shouted. “They’ve seen us! Head back into the woods.”

But it was too late. The other children sprinted after the truck as it wove around magnolias and leggy banks of azaleas, yelling and cheering. Several chickens squawked in alarm and flew into the air.

“Hurry up! Step on it!” Teddy exclaimed.

Ben glanced in the rear-view mirror. The four children sprinted behind, Abe outstripping the rest. But then Ben saw something else, something on the porch of the clerk’s office, the same creature he’d seen before. Stooped over, a gray rag was wrapped around its head. “That’s no animal!” Ben thought. It jumped from the bushes onto the wooden decking and crouched behind a post. Ben slammed on the brakes and the truck screech to a halt. Sam flew forward and banged his head on the dashboard.

“Ow!!” he screamed, and blood spurted from a gash on his forehead.

“Ben!” Teddy yelled. “What’s wrong with you?”

But Ben had already turned around in the seat, leaning over and staring at the building. There it was! Scrambling for the doorway!

“There it is! That creature I saw before!”

“I’m gonna creature you!” Sam shrieked and punched Ben in the arm. But Ben was already on his way out the door, hobbling toward the building, holding onto the truck bed. The pickup idled and shuddered.

“He’s a lunatic,” Teddy said to Sam. “Get out of the way. I’m gonna drive.” Teddy climbed over Sam, getting blood on his shirt, and grabbed the steering wheel.

The truck lurched toward the azaleas again. Ben winced as he walked. Abe ran past him, then Cecil, and then Julia. Carla was walking. She looked at Ben.

“Why’d you stop driving? You were doing pretty good.” She looked down at her cousin’s foot. The ankle bulged over his dirty sneaker. “You need to go put that up. Aunt Velma’s gonna kill you.”

“I … I saw ….”

Carla studied his face and followed his gaze to the building. “Saw what?”

“Something weird. Some animal. No … no, it wasn’t an animal. It was,” Ben was at a loss to describe its movement. “It was scurrying along, kind of. On all fours, but not like a dog.”

“Kind of like a monkey, like something that could walk on two feet but goes faster if it uses its arms too?”

“Yeah.”

Carla inhaled deeply. “I saw it too, this morning.”

“You did?” Ben jerked his gaze around to the girl, his full attention on her now. “What is it?”

“I don’t know,” Carla lied. For in her heart she did know.

“Where’d it come from?” he asked. “Where’d you see it?”

Again she lied. “In the box garden,” and she looked down, as she always did when she lied. “Just for a second. At first I thought it was Julia.”

“Hmm,” he mumbled. “Well, I’m going in that office to find it. I’m gonna ….”

But he was interrupted by his mother, who rounded the magnolia tree with her hands on her hips.

“Ben Christopher! What are you doing on that foot?” She looked at Carla. “What …? Where are the others? Ben, I’ve been calling you boys for lunch for fifteen minutes! And Carla, you knew it was time!”

“Sorry, Mom,” and “Sorry, Aunt Velma,” were spoken simultaneously.

“Well, get inside and wash up. Sandwiches on the table and watermelon in the frig.” She hesitated. “Is anybody in that building?” And she pointed to the clerk’s office.

“No!” both children exclaimed together. At that moment the revving of an engine was followed by the popping boom of a backfire. Her eyes grew wide. Aunt Velma was a small woman, but when riled by her children’s behavior she was a formidable opponent. Her curly red hair seemed to rise on her head, her eyes flashed indignation and her mouth tightened into a fierce scowl.

“That truck! Again!” And she stomped off through the woods.

“Let’s go,” Carla said.

“Hang on!” Ben grabbed Carla’s shoulder. “I can’t walk as fast as you. And I want you to tell me everything you remember about that bizarre creature. I’m not gonna rest until I find out what it is.” His fingers dug into her shoulder as he limped along, wincing with each step.

“Ben, it’s probably just a half-starved wild dog with a bad limp.” Carla smiled at him and attempted a laugh. “And by the time we finish lunch, it’ll be gone.”

“It looked … it really looked more like some kind of goblin from a kid’s book. Like something from a bad dream.”

“Hmm,” Carla answered. She wanted to distract him from his curiosity. “Maybe we’re both just seeing things.”

Ben hobbled along in silence, his mind turning on the puzzling thing he’d seen. Then he remembered.

“Hey! I saw Abe upstairs in the attic when I was in the barn. What was he doing up there? How’d he get back outside so fast?”

Carla was taken aback, but because she’d learned to be cautious regarding these secrets, she thought before she spoke.

“We were … um, we were all up there,” she said.

“I only saw Abe, at the window. But he looked too tall for Abe.”

“We were playing a game. He was standing on a box,” she improvised. “We had a race. We … we ran out of the house as fast as we could, and he chased us. That’s how we all got out here so fast.” Carla knew her answer sounded lame. She hoped her cousin wouldn’t notice. Her mind turned to Edward and she wondered with growing alarm where he might be. They’d never taken him any food. Was he still in the attic, hungry? Had he escaped from the house to hide away from the family? How would they find him again?

Ben limped up the kitchen steps. The whole morning was unsatisfactory to him. His little female cousin was being vague and confusing as girls often were. Now that Teddy was driving the truck he’d never get another chance. He’d sprained his ankle again while managing the clutch pedal. His mom wouldn’t let him out of her sight, he was sure.

But he was wrong. Teddy wrecked the ‘36 Ford thoroughly on a massive oak stump, bashing his knee. By the time Aunt Velma reached the pine trees on the back of the property where the truck sat wedged between two trees, smoke billowing from its hood, both Teddy and Sam both needed stitches. After a trip to the local health clinic during which everyone missed lunch, all the children plus Aunt Velma, plus the oldest cousin Bob, who returned from work on time, shoved the antique vehicle through the woods and back into the barn. Its thin front bumper was hopelessly caved in. When the truck was again under a roof, Aunt Velma shouted all the children back into the house, recruiting Julia, Abe, and Carla to keep their grandmother company, and all the other boys to scrub the floors. Only Frances, still absent after cheerleading practice, avoided her wrath. Aunt Velma was still fuming when she served them lunch leftovers for supper. And try as they might, Cecil, Carla, and Julia could not find Edward anywhere in the house. He had disappeared.

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[Ten Days at Federal Hill is copyrighted in its entirety by the author, M.K. Christiansen.]